


so can you fix me, doc?

by sassy_ninja



Series: The Android and the Mechanic [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, Alternate Universe - Steampunk, Android Oikawa Tooru, Angst, Fluff and Angst, Kinda, Light Angst, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Mechanic Iwaizumi Hajime, Oikawa Tooru's Knee Injury, Reunions, wow thats a tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-04-01
Packaged: 2019-12-30 15:37:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18318221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sassy_ninja/pseuds/sassy_ninja
Summary: "Welcome to Iwaizumi's Mechanics Shop, how can I help you today?"Hajime wakes up with the sun, always forgets to close the blinds, sometimes forgets to close the windows. He's the best mechanic in Outer, knows more about droids than anyone else in the whole City, but there's some things that he doesn't understand, some machines that he can't fix. It aches, when someone's missing from right inside of him.So Hajime works in his busy mechanics shop while he waits for someone else to come back home.





	so can you fix me, doc?

**Author's Note:**

> ohohoho if you've noticed that I've orphaned all my works and posted this congratulations pls don't question my breakdowns thank uuuu~

The morning light is too harsh, he must've forgotten to close the blinds again last night. Hajime scrubs his hand across his eyes harshly, squinting at the open window with the first rumblings of the market drifting in. He tugs at his scratchy blankets and for a second dreams of shutting the blinds, rolling over and falling back asleep for another hour or two, at least until the sun has finished rising. But he drags himself up, groaning.

By the time he makes it to the bathroom he can hear the first calls of the market stall owners, each peddling their own wares to the increasingly busy streets. He remembers to shut the window before they can kick up enough dust to float to the second floor, there’s been more than one time where he’s come back from work and his entire flat is covered in that cloying orange dust endemic to Outer. It had taken him days to get it out of his nice white blankets (they’re still more like a faint yellow now).

He pulls open the shutters to his shop with a grunt, a small cascade of dust from the night showering over him.

“Morning, Hajime!” comes two voices from across the street, Hanamaki and Matsukawa already have people lining up for their famous ramen. He waves in response, and they shout something about making him a bowl when the morning rush dies down, Hajime’s stomach hopes that’s soon. His shop is the only cool and quiet in the entire market, bright and airy in a completely different way to the outside. Where the market is bustling and full, dust and spices thick in the air, Hajime’s mechanics shop is quiet and neat. The gentle whirring of the fan behind him pushes most of the dust that gets in back out again, it just helps that it also keeps him cool.

“Welcome to Iwaizumi’s Mechanic Shop, how may I help you today?” he calls, after a nervous looking blonde girl peeks inside. She almost squeaks when he speaks, edging further in with wide, nervous eyes. “Ah, Yachi-san you haven’t been in a while, everything going well I hope?”

“Um, Iwaizumi-san I was trying to carry some boxes for Karasuno yesterday and there was a loose nail,” she lifts up one of her arms, the artificial skin ripped down from the wrist to the elbow, leaving wiring exposed, “I thought I could just get Suga-san to sew it shut again, but Daichi-san recommended that I get you to check it out.”

He clucks when she gets closer. “Some loose nail, huh?” he holds her arm tenderly as he tugs and pokes at the ripped skin, peering into where some of the wiring is ripped and sparking, “Daichi-san was right, you’ve got some damaged wiring, but I’ll just solder it and replace some of the artificial skin. We’ll be done in twenty minutes.”

“Thank you, Iwaizumi-san!” she squeaks, blushing a little when he grunts and shuffles around to get his equipment.

“No need to be so nervous Yachi-san. We’re not strangers anymore,” he shouts as she leaves, arm newly fixed. She nods in a rapid staccato as she disappears back into the crowd. He sighs before turning to his next customer, waiting patiently on a chair by the entrance to the shop. “Watari, you gonna sit there forever?” he calls before the startled android jolts upright and grins his apology, scratching at his head a little awkwardly before starting to tell Hajime what’s wrong this time.

It’s around ten-thirty when the breakfast rush starts to finally die down and also when Kyoutani finally shows up the shop, scowl already cemented on his face. Yahaba Shigeru is perched daintily on his client’s chair, Hajime halfway through disassembling his shoulder.

“Oi, Kyoutani I don’t pay you to turn up late. Stop half assing this, it’s the only chance you’re gonna get, okay?” Hajime barks, glaring up at him from over his work desk, “wash your hands and pass me a size C-32 screw.”

To be fair to him he doesn’t even react to Yahaba being there, only mumbling an apology and scrambling to get whatever Hajime asked of him. He stands just behind Hajime, eyes carefully trained on what he’s doing, taking note of every wire and cog and switch that he touches. Maybe he’s always late and he sometimes gets into fights with customers (it’s mostly just Yahaba to be fair), he’s still one of the best apprentices Hajime could wish for.

“Tell Hanamaki and Matsukawa to stop overworking you,” Hajime smiles at Yahaba when he finishes sewing the last of the artificial skin shut under his shoulder blade, “stretch for me, how does it feel?”

“Ah, much better Iwaizumi-san,” Yahaba grins as he tests his shoulder. This time it’s quiet, no overheated thrum or squeaking cogs, “you always work magic like no one else.”

“Seriously though, those two better treat me for all the free shit I do for them,” he grunts, slapping Yahaba on the shoulder after he finally shrugs on his shirt, “they said they’d treat me to ramen this morning and now look at them.” He pulls face at where the two are unabashedly making out behind the counter.

“Tell me about it, I have to deal with them all day,” Yahaba’s face is so sour that it makes Hajime laugh.

“Excuse me?” Hajime plasters on his best shopkeeper smile and turns around, a ‘welcome to Iwaizumi’s Mechanic Shop, what can I do for you today?’ already falling out of his mouth.

The day spins by as things get busier, with Hajime squinting down at wiring and machinery until his eyes start to blur a little. He gets Kyoutani to deal with some of the simpler cases, like Yachi’s earlier. Just some ripped artificial skin, a broken tension belt, some faulty wiring that needs soldering or replacing. Even with all his protests and nervous questioning, Kyoutani does a good job. Every time he comes over with more doubts or makes Hajime check and double check his work he always just grunts with approval. He’s a fast learner and even after just 6 months on the job so far, he’s probably good enough to take some harder jobs as well, if only he had the self-confidence to do it without pestering Hajime every five minutes.

People don’t start slowing down until the evening, as the food stalls’ business starts building up again with the dinner time rush, Hajime’s starts winding down. He’s about to pull down the shop shutters when there’s a rapid tap on his shoulder and a sing-song, “ _Iwa-chan_.”

“We’re closing, go away,” he grunts, letting go of the shutters so they rise back up again with a clunk, “no dumbasses allowed in this shop.”

“Rude,” the voice whines, “I came all the way down from Central to come see you and this is how you treat me? Your most loyal and best customer?”

Hajime finally turns around, frowning at the droid standing in his shop. He’s wearing another one of those fancy Central suits, the shirt collar a pristine white that would never last out here in Outer. “You’re my most annoying and dumbest customer, Shittykawa. Kyoutani you can go, thanks for your hard work today.”

“Want to get me alone, Iwa-chan?” he teases, fluttering his lashes as Hajime just scowls even more.

“Shut up, Assikawa. I can’t expect my employees to stay because of your stupid behaviour. What did you do to your knee this time?” he scowls, but his face can’t help but soften when it catches the tired look in Oikawa’s eyes, the way he sinks down into the chair across from Hajime’s desk and tugs his tie loose. “Hey, are those assholes in Central overworking you again? I swear to god I’ll put a hole in them if they are.”

“I’m just tired, Iwa-chan. It’s been a long time since I was home,” he sinks his head down onto the table, waiting for Hajime to run his hands through his carefully styled hair. He almost purrs when Hajime obliges, scratching gently at his scalp as he waits for him to reply.

“Then come home more often dumbass,” he can’t keep the worry from his voice, can’t help the way his fingers tighten in Oikawa’s hair, “it’s been almost a month since I last saw you. I know the metro is always crowded in Outer, but it doesn’t take more than an hour.”

Oikawa shifts like he wants to complain but stays silent instead, pushing his head slightly into Hajime’s hand like a cat. He misses him, misses him so much it hurts. Having Oikawa gone is like an aching shoulder, a phantom limb, something still there but gone.

(No one to remember to shut the curtains, close the windows, run out to get Hajime water on too hot days)

“Let me see your knee,” he says quickly, giving Oikawa’s head a little shove, “get your fancy trousers off in the back whilst I close up.”

“Ooh Iwa-chan wants me that badly,” he teases, whilst he walks towards the backroom, eyes still a little quiet.

When Hajime goes to tug down the shutters Matsukawa catches his eye, there’s a look of warning, of sadness. Hajime just shakes his head, Matsukawa looks away. Hajime is left in the darkness of his own shop, hearing Oikawa humming from the back. It hurts, he knows it hurts and maybe tomorrow afternoon he’ll close the shop early and mope in the ramen stall until they close, but for now he can keep Oikawa close again. He’ll throw everything away for him.

He tries to wipe the day’s fatigue from his eyes when he goes into the back, Oikawa already changed into one of Hajime’s shirts and shorts, leg propped up against the workbench. The bright lamp hurts his eyes, he prefers much more to work in sunlight, but Oikawa only comes in the evenings, when the sun is setting or already set. Hajime learns to work in lamplight as well.

They don’t speak when he works, slicing open the artificial skin with practiced ease. He does the same thing he always does: take out every cog and screw and runner and wire and carefully put them back together again. Replacing anything that’s rusty and worn and some things that just don’t stick together well. This knee has been repaired more than most droids have in their whole lifetimes, but sometimes there’s just something wrong that even new parts and the best mechanics can’t fix. He sews the skin up again, carefully.

“Thank you Iwa-chan,” Oikawa’s smile is soft and sleepy as he pulls his leg down, stretching the rest of his body where it’s gotten stiff from sitting still for so long, “I’m sorry for being such a pain. It’s so late and you haven’t even eaten yet.”

“I can go scrounge for something from Hanamaki and Matsukawa, they owe me today anyways. I fixed up Yahaba for free,” he stretches his arms up, feeling the stiffness of a day’s work fade a little.

“Are you gonna stay?” he asks at the same time Oikawa says, “can I stay the night?”

“You can always stay,” Hajime frowns a little, “you don’t have to ask. This is your home as well as mine.” Oikawa doesn’t reply, only lean in, hands soft on Hajime’s cheeks as he presses a kiss to the corner of his mouth. Home, Oikawa thinks as he kisses Hajime’s jaw, his neck, his eyelids, finally, finally his mouth. Home, home, home.

“I miss you,” he says, voice rough, when they finally break apart, “every day, every minute, every second.”

‘Then come home,’ Hajime doesn’t say, ‘don’t leave again tomorrow morning. Stay with me, wake up with me, fall asleep with me. I’ll give you everything, I’ll give all of myself to you.’ He knows he can’t, he knows that everything he has still won’t be enough for Oikawa. He’s a forest fire that tears through towns and cities, across countries and continents and yet still isn’t satisfied even when he sits on the edge of an ocean. Hajime is just one man, just two hands and a beating heart, it’s never been enough.

“I know,” he says instead, voice gravelly, “take better care of yourself when I’m not there to take care of you.” Oikawa just hums in response, holding Hajime’s calloused hands in his own. Artificial skin doesn’t callous, it doesn’t scar, it just knits itself slowly back together. Having scars is something so inviably human, healing with a mark is so human, so Hajime.

He buries his face in Oikawa’s neck, breathing in the smell of his expensive cologne, the faint smell of metal from the Centre, dust and nothing else. Droids don’t have smells, they’re not human, but Hajime listens to the soft clicking of machinery under Oikawa’s skin and he sighs, content.

Even when he wakes up alone tomorrow morning, blinds drawn shut and windows closed. Even when he opens the shop the Hanamaki and Matsukawa’s pitying eyes. Even when Kyoutani turns up a little earlier than normal with a guilty look. He doesn’t take it back, he doesn’t take a moment back. He finds a rusted and corroded nail on his workbench before one of his appointments and he throws it into a jar filled with others. Little pieces of Oikawa that he leaves behind. Fires always burn out, is what he tells himself, not sure if it’s a comfort or a warning. Oikawa always comes back eventually.

“Welcome to Iwaizumi’s Mechanics Shop. How can I help you today?” he smiles and deep inside he aches.

**Author's Note:**

> ohohoho comments and kudos greatly appreciated 
> 
> (also yes I'm supposed to be working and yes I'm gonna fail my a-levels and yes I wrote this in one evening I'll probably edit this tomorrow bc it's probably filled with typos!)


End file.
